Image Source: Agencies

Aug 14, 2025: On August 14, petitions requesting instructions to the Centre to restore Jammu and Kashmir's statehood are likely to be heard by the Supreme Court. The petition filed by college teacher Zahoor Ahmed Bhat and activist Khurshid Ahmad Malik is listed as item number 9 on the Supreme Court's cause list for Thursday. It is before a Bench composed of Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran. Another related petition on the subject, this one from Irfan Hafiz Lone, is also scheduled for hearing.

According to Bhat and Malik's argument, "the delay in restoration of statehood would cause a serious reduction of democratically elected government in Jammu and Kashmir, causing a grave violation of the idea of federalism that forms part of the basic structure of the Constitution of India." Bhat and Malik had filed a petition in the Supreme Court in October 2024 seeking restoration of its statehood in two months.

They argued, making reference to the polls that were held in Jammu and Kashmir, that the formation of the legislative Assembly prior to the restoration of statehood was against the concept of federalism, which is a component of the fundamental structure of the Constitution. Jammu and Kashmir will soon be given statehood, according to the Central government led by the BJP. The Supreme Court upheld the Centre's August 5, 2019, decision to revoke provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution that gave the former state special status in its historic December 11, 2023 decision. "Restoration of statehood shall take place at the earliest," read the statement.

A five-member Constitution Bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud, who has since retired, had given the Election Commission the unanimous order to hold elections in the UT by September 30, 2024, without waiting for the statehood to be restored. In the months of September and October 2024, the elections were held.

The top court had left open the legal question of whether Parliament could completely convert a state into a UT rather than carving out a UT from a state in light of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's statement that the Centre would restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir while upholding the creation of Ladakh as a separate UT for security reasons. In May 2024, the Supreme Court denied petitions to review its December 11, 2023, decision.